Diagnosis to now

Friday, September 27, 2013

Life between chemotherapy! Visit to Melbourne and National Mesothelioma Day

Yesterday I caught the trains to Melbourne (3 trains altogether) and visited my daughter Jo and beautiful little grandkids including little Oliver who is now 5 weeks old. It was so nice to be able to visit and not have the dreaded side effects of chemo hanging over my head while there and travelling! We even went to the park in the afternoon while the weather cleared and the wind stopped for a little while.

I caught a Melbourne old tram along Chapel Street to Bridge Road Richmond and walked up the hill to Epworth hospital where I surprised a lovely guy called David who was diagnosed in April 2013 with pleural mesothelioma after returning home from a cruise and deciding to mow his lawn only to find himself short of breath. One of the tell tale signs that the deadly mesothelioma could be lurking in the background of diagnosis! Quickly a pleurodesis followed and unfortunately nerve damage was inevitable leaving this brave warrior in unbearable pain over the coming weeks. A visit to my oncologist Allan Zimet for a second opinion, and within a few days David was admitted to hospital - this was 6 weeks ago. His pain now under control and with intensive chemotherapy and radiation therapy he was due to be released TODAY after the 6 weeks! Well done to this brave warrior - he has gone through so much in such a short time, been proactive with treatment and now it is time for his body and immune system to heal and get stronger and by being at home this will happen! It has been a tough time for his lovely wife Coral and family.

Steve Cook was admitted to hospital early yesterday morning and is now resting at home - a toast to another brave warrior and his beautiful wife Gail who are both doing it tough atm - enjoy your weekend and may the sun shine brightly!

Our beautiful and brave warrior Jan in the UK has been thru so much this week - no one should have to go thru what she has had to put up with and basically without any pain relief. She will be commencing treatment of chemotherapy once the drainage is under control thanks to Prof Fennell.

Mavis has had her scan and is now waiting until end of October for results with her oncologist. In that time Mavis you will be able to get your immune system stronger and back to good health!

To all the other brave warriors my heart goes out to you - U are so brave and face life with courage, strength and a global unity of love.

Mesothelioma National Day was held on 26 September in UK and USA. I have a petition going to get as many signatures on a global scale for Australia to join these countries and have Mesothelioma national day declared here too.

Please sign this petition and pass around to others too. By having this day in Australia we can help to create asbestos awareness, education and reach out to everyone that there is no safe asbestos! Asbestos kills!

Thursday (Sept 26th) is National Mesothelioma Awareness Day. We take time to humbly
remember those we lost and to continue the fight against this horrible
disease in UK and USA! Australia does not have a National Mesothelioma
Awareness Day - we need to be part of this global day! This is our
chance to create awareness, advocacy and educate innocent people on the
dangers of deadly asbestos fibres. The more knowledge and awareness we
have, the less likely your children and their children of the future
will die from deadly mesothelioma asbestos cancer.